Bargain Scores – Page 4 – Dust Bunnies and Dog Toys

Goodwill Grand Opening

Published on March 22, 2016 by JennaLeave a comment

Last week Goodwill opened a new thrift store just a few blocks from where I work! Although there are several Salvation Army thrift stores around town this is the first Goodwill. I’ve had great experiences at their stores in the lower 48, so I was pretty excited to see what it was like here. I’m happy to say that they met my expectations and exceeded a few too!

The first thing they did right is choosing a good location. Not only is it near my work (extra points for that!) the building is massive and has great parking. It was previously a sports equipment store so the interior is newer and wide open. They even have enough space to use half of the store as the donation center, which includes a cover you can drive under so you don’t have to deal with Alaskan weather just to drop off items.

I came on opening day, but waiting until lunch time figuring the 8 am grand opening would draw the biggest crowds. Unfortunately I forgot to factor in that it was spring break that week so everyone was looking for things to do and this was apparently one that many chose because the place was super busy! Several times I skipped aisles because they were too congested to get a good look at the items on the shelves, but I’m sure that was just because of this was opening day. I skipped the clothes, shoes and books this visit and instead made a beeline for housewares where I searched for project materials and décor items.

It was well stocked and the staff were constantly bringing out more items to keep the shelves full. They also did a great job with creating their employee team because every staff person I encountered as friendly and had wonderful attitudes even as they tried to squeeze around shoppers to do their job. One gal was cleaning up some broken glass from a dropped item and could barely find room to sweep but it never phased her. In fact she made it an opportunity to spread cheer and noted that shopper safety was her priority.

Another thing they did right were the prices. That’s a big thing here in Alaska, where several of the thrift stores seem to think they can charge a few pennies less than retail on items. It also didn’t hurt that I had a 20% off coupon thanks to donating before the store opened! 🙂 I ended up finding so many treasures that I had to switch from a small roll behind basket to an actual shopping cart which was mounded over by the time I made it to the cashier line.

Check out was another spot they exceeded my expectations. They had someone monitoring the line to make sure no one snuck past and went straight to the cashiers, plus they had tech support standing by for any little glitches the new computer systems might have. And all of the staff on the cashier line were smiling and helping each other out when there were questions.

With my coupon I ended up spending just over $60 for this haul, which included puzzles, games and stuffed animals for the foster room plus Easter décor, yard art, dog toys, a treat holder for the chickens and several pieces that will become sale projects. Hopefully this location will continue to impress with good selection, affordable prices and great staff. If they do, I plan to be a regular!

What great treasures have you found at thrift stores recently? Leave me a comment to share!

8 Tips for Visiting Hawaii on a Budget

Published on March 9, 2016March 9, 2016 by JennaLeave a comment

Now that I’ve finished sharing all of our fun adventures in Hawaii I thought I’d do a quick round up of tips for those who might be planning a trip to this great destination.

1. Book early or late for the best rates, but also shop around.
The hubs did most of the planning for this trip and scored some great rates on both the hotel and rental car because we reserved them several months in advance. It wasn’t until after the reservations were made that we realized the weekend we were in Honolulu coincided with the ProBowl, which significantly increased prices due to demand but because we had our reservation in so early the hotel hadn’t yet adjusted the rate and we got a better deal than most of the folks staying there during the same days. The hubs also found an awesome deal on the rental car by going with a lesser known brand and searching the travel search sites for the lowest price.

2. Research and read reviews to prioritize what you want to see and do.
We did a lot of research ahead of time to make sure we hit all the things we really wanted to. I started with a list of things in each area that sounded interesting and ranked them to decide which made the must-do list and which were “if we have time” items. Online travel reviews were a huge help in weeding out the tourist traps and finding lesser known but more interesting places or activities.

3. Decide what’s worth paying for and where you can save.
Although we’re always on the hunt for a bargain, sometimes its worth paying for an experience. Don’t skip the once in a lifetime option just because it’s pricey. Swimming with the rays and the submarine tour were expensive compared to other activities, but both are something we couldn’t do anywhere else we were traveling, so it made the price reasonable. To balance those costs we opted to enjoy the hotel’s free entertainment options like fireworks on the beach and the garden tour. Choosing the hotel’s luau saved us additional admission and parking fees required at some of the other local luau shows. We also found free activities around town such as hiking to the ruins, enjoying public beaches on the North Shore and on the big island, strolling the Swap Meet and the Chinese New Year celebrations – although the last two did lead to a couple of additional well-priced purchases. 😉 And getting up early got us free tickets to the USS Arizona Memorial. While on the big island we made the most of our minimal park admission fee visiting the lava tunnels, driving the park’s scenic roads, touring the art gallery and museum, attending a volcano presentation and a couple nights of volcano watching.

4. Don’t over schedule.
Thanks to our research, we were able to plan out what activities we wanted to do each day, but we only planned one or two things for each day so we didn’t feel rushed or stressed to maintain the schedule. We also had a couple of “no plans” days in case weather didn’t cooperate or we just didn’t feel like doing what we’d planned that day which gave us flexibility to be spontaneous. Having a flexible plan allowed us to be relaxed but still see everything we wanted to.

5. Plan for traffic.
This is a critical tip if you want to make the most of your time in Hawaii. Honolulu traffic can be intense and we weren’t interested in spending any of our vacation stuck in traffic so we opted to schedule our plans opposite of the traffic patterns. Since we stayed downtown we would be heading out of town as the morning rush hour wrapped up and timed our trip back to the hotel to be opposite of the afternoon exodus from Honolulu. While we still encountered traffic in both directions it was nothing compared to what we saw heading the other direction!

6. Shop around for souvenirs.
We all end up buying some type of souvenirs on vacation, but you don’t want to pay more than you need to. We found great deals on some of the same items we’d seen in shops around town at the Swap Meet and the Exchange (PX) at the joint military base had the same food gifts for a third of what the Dole Plantation was charging. However, that doesn’t mean they have the best price on everything. The Exchange had the same shirt the hubs bought at a hotel shop for twice what he paid! So take your time and don’t feel like you have to buy something right away.

7. Eat where the locals eat.
Restaurants in the trendy shipping districts are considerably more expensive than some of the local favorites that might be off the beaten path. While we enjoyed Buho, the rooftop Mexican cantina we found in downtown Waikiki, they were definitely priced for tourists visiting the high-end retailers nearby. In comparison, our visits to Nico’s, Teddy’s Bigger Burger and Fatboy’s were just as pleasing to our bellies but did less damage to our wallets. Each of these eateries were in areas where the locals live and work so we had to seek them out but it was worth the little bit of effort.

8. Bring home Costco pineapples.
One of the best parts of visiting Hawaii is bringing home a fresh pineapple. We originally planned to purchase some at the Dole Plantation but their prices seemed excessive so we started searching online to see if there was a cheaper choice. The hubs was concerned that dealing with agricultural customs at the airport would be difficult and wanted to buy pineapples once we got through security (where they check carry on agriculture items) but we heard they were just as expensive there as they were at Dole. Several online sources said the inspection was minimal and as long as your items were free of bugs or rotten spots there shouldn’t be an issue. So we bought 4 pineapples with Dole tags at Costco for less than what we would have paid for 2 at Dole, put them in the branded boxes we bought at Dole for a few bucks each and hand carried them on the plane. At the airport the boxes went through the x-ray machines without issue and even when I asked the agriculture inspectors if they wanted us to open the boxes they said there was no need. Making that stop at Costco saved us more than $60 and gave us a convenient opportunity to fill up the rental car’s gas tank at another discount while we were there so it was well worth the little bit of extra effort.

I hope these tips help you plan a fun and budget-friendly trip to the Aloha state!

It’s Curtains for the Foster Room

Published on February 11, 2016 by Jenna4 Comments

Before we left for Hawaii, we checked one final project off the list – installing a curtain rod in the Foster Room. You may remember these green curtains from our Master some time ago, but when we replaced them with something new (seen in the background here) I stashed these away thinking they might somewhere else. Looks like I was right. To be honest they aren’t really curtains – they are actually table cloths, as are the new curtains in our room. I prefer to use table cloths because they are less expensive, typically dirt & moisture resistant and come in long lengths to fit our high ceilings. Plus they are washer friendly so I can take them down and run them on the sanitary cycle to help combat my severe allergies.

The curtain rod is more industrial pipe just like what we used on the bed and other projects such as this, this and this. We’ve found that this is best option for window treatments in our house since the dogs and cat like to play in the fabric occasionally and kept ripping the screw mounted brackets of traditional curtain rods out of the wall.

The hubs put the pipe pieces together with a 90* elbow on each end to give a bit of depth and made sure to put the curtain rings on before mounting – that’s a key step in this style of rod since it’s more permanent. Luckily the ring clips add a little extra length to the overall effect and making taking the curtain down or switching them out super easy. Here’s a closer view of the pipe and ring clips.

Now we just need to install a closet system and finish up this side of the room. I’m on the hunt for a small dresser for the left side of the bed since the side table I picked up and revamped isn’t working out the way I planned it. I’ll share that project soon as well. The closet is next to that space on the right of the bed where the stools currently are. I’m planning a fold down desk in that spot, which can also be a chalkboard! Someone gave us a second twin mattress for the trundle under the industrial cart bed, which was a little thicker than we planned for so we’ll have to adapt the trundle frame to fit a bit more clearance.

The fabric you see at the bottom is the thin blanket currently protecting the sheets from the bed frame. Although it works, the color isn’t right for this space so I’ll swap it out for something else when it’s all finished. I think we already have a blanket that will work, but I’ve got to test it out before I commit it to this purpose. Luckily having a blanket on the trundle eliminates the need for a bed skirt so it serves two purposes, and you know how much I love things that pull double duty! The two standard pillows against the wall work for the main bed and trundle while the king pillow in front is an extra in case there are friends who stay over with a sleeping bag. I plan to let the children who stay with us pick out throw pillows to add to the bed so they can show off their personality and interests a bit, then have something they can take with them when they leave our home.

I’m loving how this room is coming together and the fun industrial vibe it’s developing. I’m hoping to have it wrapped up in the next month so we can start the final preparations to become foster parents. It’s going to be a big change but I’m sure it will also bring big rewards for both us and those who’s lives we’re about to be a part of.

Storage in the Foster Room

Published on February 10, 2016 by JennaLeave a comment

As promised, today I’m sharing what’s underneath the art display boards in the Foster Room that I showed you yesterday. I created a fun storage cubby system with simple wooden crates which can hold books and toys. I got the idea from one of my favorite blogs and originally planned to mount the crates on the wall like she did, but wanted the option to use them occasionally as props for photo sessions occasionally so instead I opted to just stack them on the floor.

I was a little worried that the baseboard would make the bottom row stick out more than the top row and leaving a small gap behind the crates would make them unsteady which could be a safety issue around children but when I set them up they felt pretty sturdy. I figured only going two rows high keeps things at kiddo level so there’s no need to reach or lean on them and keeps the center of gravity on he whole group low so I’m not worried about it.

It coordinates with the art display boards well and is just as flexible since we can change up what’s in each cubby to fit each child’s interests. There is also a digital frame in the lower left crate where we can load pictures of things that they like, which should be a fun project to do together when they arrive to get to know them and serve a dual purpose as a nightlight. The wide openings are perfect for storing books and the toys I’ve started collecting such as the adorable elephant a co-worker knitted and one I found on Etsy years ago.

I also ordered this peg doll set which should be interesting for a wide range of ages. Since we don’t know who will be placed with us I got both the boy and girl sets which can be played with separately or paired up. The cute purple crab in the back is something from my days working at the YMCA that I’ve kept. I thought it was something fun a child might like and since it’s made of Styrofoam it shouldn’t be dangerous for them to play with.

Next to the crates I put some mega blocks in a basket for easy access and clean-up. I found a large bag of them on the local buy/sell page for a few dollars and likes that they are larger so they won’t be a choking hazard for smaller children. Next to that is a bean bag I used to use for newborn sessions before I got my professional poser pillow. I think it makes a fun little reading spot right next to the book storage.

Since I bought the crates on sale and with coupons good for a percentage off a single item, gathering enough to make the cubbies required several trips to Michaels but it was worth the savings – especially since I go there often for my day job and can make a separate personal purchase while there! I used stain I had left over from the Moose Mount Board in the guest room for both the display boards and the crates so that was an additional savings. Next up are the window treatments, which I’ll share tomorrow!

Foster Room Art Wall

Published on February 9, 2016 by JennaLeave a comment

I’m still sorting through Hawaii photos and collecting my thoughts so I can share all the things we did with tips for those who are planning trips which I’ll share in several posts next week. Until then, I thought I’d give you an update on some of the projects we completed in the Foster Room before our trip. One I really like are these simple art display boards.

I needed something to fill the large empty wall, but also wanted it to be changeable with the seasons and each child’s interests without costing a lot so when I saw this idea on one of my favorite blogs I knew it was the perfect answer. It was such a simple project that I did it all while watching TV and didn’t take any photos of the steps, but here’s the quick run down:

Stain or paint pre-cut boards with favorite color.
Screw in eye bolts at each end of the board.
Loop gauged wire through the eye bolt and twist back on itself a few times.
Pull wire taunt across the board to the other eye bolt and cut to appropriate length.
Loop other end of wire through second eye bolt and twist it back on itself a few times.
Adjust wire and eye bolts as needed to make wire tight. (I used pliers to tilt the eye bolts outward a bit for some extra tension.)
Add small metal clips to the wire for hanging art.

It’s the perfect simple solution and it can double as a spot to display little artworks to be oohh’ed and ahhhh’ed over. For now I put up some simple dog and cat art I found online as placeholders. I think the total cost came in under $30 and I have a third left over board stained and ready to be used for another project.

Tomorrow I’ll show you what we set up below these boards for more display and storage space so check back for that!

DIY Bird Feeders

Published on December 30, 2015 by JennaLeave a comment

While I had a few days off around Christmas I finally tackled a little project I’d been wanting to do for a while, creating a few more bird feeders for the yard. I had seen spiral copper feeders online and loved the simple design, so I did a quick search on Pinterest to find a tutorial and gave it a try. I used small copper tubing, which is typically used for the water line on newer refrigerators. It’s a soft metal so it bends very easily. The tutorials I found suggested using a rolling pin to get the circular shape, but we don’t have one so I used a soda can instead.

I wasn’t able to get pictures during the process due to needing both hands and the hubs being busy with another project, but it’s really as simple as placing the beginning of the tubing against the can and pressing gently as you turn the can toward the tubing. Once I had a spiral tall enough I snipped the tubing with wire cutters to make a clean end and wrapped that around the can as well to complete the final loop. After I removed the can from the spiral I pulled the top loop up so it was perpendicular to the rest of the spirals so I’d have somewhere to hang the feeder from. I stretched the spiral out a bit to make spaces between the loops and once I was happy with how that was looking, I curled the bottom loop a bit tighter so it could act as a stopper at the end. I had enough tubing left over to make a second as well. Here’s they arebefore I filled them.

I filled them with apples and hung them outside on the hooks where my hanging baskets go during the summer. I haven’t seen any of the wildlife visit them yet, but it might take them a while to investigate and learn this new food source. I’m considering making more of these for my Etsy shop, but am not sure if they would be big sellers or I they would ship well so I might post them on a few of the local buy/sell pages and see if they get any traction there first.

I continued my DIY feeder making roll with this simple S hook orange feeder. The hubs drilled a hole in a piece of drift wood from my stash and I positioned it where I thought it would work best as a perch then added a bit of hot glue to keep it in place. We could have just made the hole smaller to begin with so the perch would fit snuggly but I didn’t want to risk breaking it when maneuvering it on the hook. I cut an orange in half and just stabbed it onto the end of the hook. The hubs enjoyed cleaning up the other half of the orange so it didn’t go to waste.

This one hasn’t had any visitors either from what I’ve seen, but I’ll leave it up for a while to see if the birds and squirrels find it just like it did for the peanut ring feeder which I filled while I was at it. This continues to be a huge draw for both squirrels and birds so I might just let it run empty to encourage them to explore the other new feeders. If I still don’t see any traffic at them in a few weeks I might switch to using homemade suet balls or blocks instead of fruit and see if that’s more appealing to our neighborhood’s critters.

I picked up this store bought feeder several weeks ago and placed it farther down the fence from the peanut feeder so the smaller birds would have somewhere to eat when the squirrel is devouring the peanuts. The perch is on a spring that can be adjusted to different tensions for different sized birds and pulls down over the openings if there is too much weight, such as a squirrel, which was the main selling point for me. Plus I like the bright red, barn style too! I’m still playing with the different spring settings to see which works best for our area’s flock since it didn’t come with instructions or info other than the price tag, but I have seen groups of chickadees sitting on the ledge and pecking at seeds so it must be appropriately set for them. And because it has such a large reservoir, it hasn’t needed filling since I put it up so it’s perfect for the far area of the yard where we don’t often go.

Hopefully all of these options will make the birds stick around come spring, so they can keep the mosquito population in check allowing us to enjoy the deck more. If you have any tips on how to attract birds to new feeders or suggestions for feeder styles that work best I’d love to hear them!

DIY Moose Mount

Published on December 29, 2015December 29, 2015 by JennaLeave a comment

Today I’m sharing a recent DIY project the hubs helped me create as part of the games for my employer’s company holiday party. The company is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary this year so we had a theme of ‘silver winter.’ We wanted to try having some games that people could do before dinner was served and I came up with the idea of a moose head ring toss. I found this resin moose head on Amazon, which the company purchased for around $20 after we used some gift certificates from a vendor we work with.

Much to the hubs dismay, I spray painted him white. Sometimes he just can’t see my vision. 😉 Once we had the moose head ready we purchased the wood, screws and metal strips to make the mounting board. We laid everything out in the garage for a dry run before putting it together.

The first step was staining the wood, which was precut whiteboard. I had planned to use pallet wood but ran out of time to disassemble the pallets I had. Luckily these were the right size and at around $5/board they didn’t break the bank.

Here’s the moose head, sans antlers, on the stained boards. I love the contrast and rustic feel!

The next step was adding the metal brackets on either side to hold the boards together. The hubs convinced me it was cheaper to buy a long solid piece of metal, so he cut it to size and drilled the holes for the screws.

The hubs and Stoli look so thrilled to show off the finished project don’t they?! At the party we set the board on a table on top of a white fur throw with the back propped up against the wall so players could attempt the ring toss.

And now that the party is over and the company has no use for it any longer it’s become a focal point in our guest room!

As I was prepping the images for this post I realized that when we hung the board at the house it’s actually upside down, which makes the moose sit a little higher than it did in the “finished” picture. I might eventually correct that but since it’s not that noticeable that’s pretty low on the priority level.

I think I’ll dress him up a bit next holiday season with a scarf or fur wrap, like I’ve seen many other bloggers do since I plan to decorate more throughout the house with small touches. I’d love to hear what you think of our latest project and how it looks in our rustic Alaskan guest bedroom!

Making a Little Faux Tree New Again

Published on December 24, 2015 by Jenna1 Comment

Happy Christmas Eve! I have one last Christmas project to share and it’s the revamp of this sad little faux tree. It used to be my holiday tree in the entry way, but I decided to give up that tradition this year in favor of spending time on more important things like spending time with my hubby and kiddos.

This little skinny tree had definitely seen better days. It had moved from Virginia to Alaska and then from Kodiak to Anchorage and finally Wasilla, so it was looking pretty tired. Since it came apart in two pieces I decided to make each portion a smaller mini tree for use around the holidays.

TreeOriginal

The bottom section was glued very securely in the base – trust me I tried to remove it and I’m pretty sure it would survive an explosion intact. So rather than fight it I just wrapped the container in burlap, tucked the ends over the top of the urn and tied it with some pretty twine from the boots I’d bought at a consignment sale. One down, one to go.

BurlapFinished

Now I needed a base for the top portion of the tree, which had a metal stump that had once attached into the base of the tree. I remembered I had this wooden box in my stash and thought it would work perfectly. This had been the container for a gift basket my office had received last year and originally came as unfinished wood with the sender’s logo carved on one side and this pretty snowflake on the other.

BoxStained

Although the snowflake was cute I didn’t want to see the company’s logo so I needed a way to cover it up. I considered adding metal pieces with decorative tacks, paint stick shiplap and other methods, but then had a light bulb moment when I realized that the burlap webbing I had a small section of was just tall enough to cover both the logo and snowflake!

BoxWrapped

I filled the box with some Styrofoam from some packaging I was about to discard, shoved the metal stump into that and wrapped the webbing around the box, securing it with a bit of hot glue where the two ends met. It was looking pretty good, but I wanted to cover up the white sytrofoam so I pulled some crinkle paper stuffing out of my filler stash and tucked it around the base. I literally had just enough!

BoxWrapped&Filled

And here it is all done! I think they turned out pretty darn cute for being a totally $0 project! I paired each with a reindeer and placed them in the guest room and foster room for the season. I didn’t even decorate them so they can stay put through the winter. 🙂

BoxFinished

And because I just can’t not share one more, here’s a cute little lamp post I revamped. I bought it at a thrift store for $4 back in the summer and set it aside to redo for my holiday bazaar booth. I forgot to take before pictures, but envision it as unfinished wood, with some 1980’s Christmas appliques at the top and a beat up garland around the post. I removed the garland, sanded down the appliques and painted the whole thing in ORB. Then I distressed the edges of the lantern and added a simple bow with greenery to the lantern base with a screw. And here’s the finished result.

Post

Although it didn’t sell at this year’s bazaar I’ll store it away as inventory for next year since it never hurts to get a head start and I plan to market pieces earlier next year on my Etsy shop and crafting Facebook page.

I’ll be taking it easy tomorrow, Skyping with family back home while enjoying the day with my fur babies and the hubs, so I wish you a very Merry Christmas and will share more projects next week!

Our Newly Rustic Mantel

Published on December 22, 2015 by Jenna1 Comment

Today I’m sharing the revamp we gave our plain white mantel. Although we wanted a rustic timber mantel when we were building the contractor wanted an absurd amount of money to install one and we weren’t certain what it would look like so we opted to take his basic style and DIY a work around later. Two years later it’s finally happened. I considered several methods including faux painting a wood grain and building a wood sleeve box, but I’m not great at painting and it would be nearly impossible to get a wood box to sit flush with the stone we have on the surround. I also considered doing a wood veneer but had a hard time finding pieces large enough and worried that it wouldn’t fit together right.

While hunting Amazon for wood veneers I found a rustic wood print self-adhesive vinyl for around $10 a roll and figured at that price it was worth giving it a shot. When it arrived I was worried that the colors were too similar to the rock, but eventually I felt that even if it was it would still be better than the big white block we currently had. Here’s how the mantel looked until yesterday.

And here’s how it looks now!

The material was fairly easy to work with, you just use the grid pattern on the back to cut it to size, then peel and stick it down to the surface you’re covering. Because we wanted the pattern to go up under the rock and wrap around for a continuous pattern it was more difficult than other applications.

We had a neighbor visit while we were measuring, who helped herself to the remains of my hanging baskets. I don’t mind too much since they’re already goners but hopefully she forgets where she found them come spring.

I think she eventually realized that I was watching and attempted to hide behind the post while continuing to munch…

But back to the project at hand. Several hours and a few choice words muttered under my breath later the mantel looked like this. Definitely an improvement from the big white blob!

It’s definitely not perfect. There are a couple of bubbles here and there, and a few cut marks where I had to work out wrinkles when things didn’t line up just right, but you really only see them close up when the light hits them just right, so I’m ok with that – especially for just $20!

The birch candles the hubs made and frosted garland compliment the new look perfectly, so it’s a DIY win-win!

DIY Birch Candles

Published on December 19, 2015 by Jenna1 Comment

Thanks to Pinterest inspiration, the hubs recently made several of these amazing birch candles for decor at my recent company holiday party. We used a couple of trees from our property that had died but hadn’t come down yet. He cut them at various lengths and used a special drill bit to carve the hole at the top for the candles. He did burn through several drill bits to get the whole lot done but other than that he said they were relatively simple to make.

We grouped them in trios at the party inside of white wicker wreathes as centerpieces on the tables which drew compliments from employees and the venue staff who said they were nicer than anything they ever offer! Now that the party is over I’m using some of them on our dining room table with a faux evergreen wreath I picked up for a few bucks at the Dollar Zone.

It looked pretty good, but a little plain so I added some pine cones and feathers to give it a finished look. It works with my classic rustic Christmas decor and will transition into the new year afterwards without lifting a finger, which is exactly what I need these days.

We’re less than a week from Christmas and I’m finally getting the house decorated, but it’s better late than never. I’ll share more of my holiday decor next week, including how I used more of these beauties on the mantel, so stay tuned! 🙂